It is well known that agitated or crying infants, including infants which have been identified as exhibiting colicky symptoms, can often be soothed by rocking or bouncing. To alleviate the need for rocking and bouncing of an infant in the arms of a parent or other caretaker, many devices have been proposed to automatically bounce or rock infants to thereby sooth the infants and/or assist them in falling asleep. In general, these prior devices have been configured to provide rocking motion, or a combination of rocking and vertical bouncing motion.
While these prior devices have been beneficial, they have not always proved effective in soothing some infants. There is thus a need for an improved apparatus and method of soothing agitated infants which overcomes drawbacks of the prior art such as those discussed above.